The Late Movies: 5 Smart People Say Smart Things in 5 Minutes or Less

Big Think has interviewed a staggering array of smart people, and is posting micro-interviews on YouTube. For tonight's viewing, I thought I'd collect five favorites. Yes, they're short, and sometimes they're simple -- but these are smart sentiments.

Bill Nye

"How is science education like comedy?" Bill Nye on the parallels between comedy and learning: it's all about making choices.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

On privatizing space exploration. Spoiler alert: he's not for it, except Low-Earth Orbit (for now). Also covered: the circumstances that might lead NDT to buy a lottery ticket.

Michio Kaku

On when the Singularity might occur, and how to prevent robots from killing us all.

Rainn Wilson

On what makes awkwardness funny to young people.

Henry Rollins

Rollins's statement to young people. A brief anecdote: I worked at a university event in Tallahassee in the late 90s where Rollins spoke. I worked the door, and noticed that somebody had poured soap in the fountain outside the hall, causing an explosion of suds (I seem to recall they were pink). Rollins's first statement upon getting on stage, if I may de-f-bomb it: "Listen, guys, somebody has to clean that up; it's not cool." Some people tuned in at that moment, some tuned out. Those who tuned in learned a lot that night.